Boards

I passed my driving test this morning. What's a good car for a new driver? What should I look out for to avoid being ripped off by a dodgy salesman? Budget about £2000 - less would be good but I don't want a total banger that'll always break down.

but even the low end fords (like my fiesta) have electric-defrost front windscreens. this sounds daft, but using it regularly through last winter it is the greatest feature in any car I've owned. Hit a button, windscreen clear in a minute.

do you have a preferance for number of doors or general size?
remember to consider tax when buying as older cars tend to pollute more so can add £££s a year etc.
Think about a long MOT aswell..
cant go wrong with a Polos, Golfs, Fiestas etc

Probably three doors and fairly small. I was thinking about a Toyota Aygo as they're very low in emissions but they haven't been around that long so even a used one with quite a lot of miles would be £2500 ish.

logbook, engine plate matches chassis, general wear and tear.. so youd expect a car with 100K miles on it to have a worn in steering wheel etc.. if the car looks battered but only has "5K miles on it alarms would be ringing.
Check for rust on/around/under wheel arches. Check the tyres for even wear. Depending on the milage, age and the type of car then certain parts are meant to be replaced at certain intervals.. so after 60K miles or 10 years (Whichever first) then a new timing belt should be fitted... so once youve seen a car you like.. check what shouldve been changed and when and check the MOT history to see if its happened. and budget accordingly to cover if it hasnt.

I wanted to just use something like Zip Car but no car clubs or rental firms (that I can find) let people hire cars for the first two years after passing. I don't want to go two years without driving and I don't know anyone with a car I could borrow.

You need to think about how big you need it to be (just a runaround, or do you need to carry large amounts of luggage around for any reason?), and how many people will be using it (presume that it'll be just two rather than needing five doors to allow access to child seats etc)?

How often would you use it though? It's very expensive if you just want to use it to drive back to see your family three times a year, especially if you're parking it out on the street.

Is there anyone else that you could buy a car with (doesn't your brother live in London? Does he drive?). It'll reduce the cost per person, plus you're less likely to get a flat battery/leave it to go rusty if it's not parked up for weeks at a time.

...and after much looking around went for a Mitsubishi Colt 1.1. There's not that many of them around, which I guess contributes to them not being that fashionable. You seem to get a lot of car for your money (a similalry spec'd Polo would have been twice as expensive for example).

She used a car comparison website that includes cost, insurance, tax and all that. There's a few of them around - can't remember which one she reckoned was best, apologies.